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Ferrari have been urged by 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve to change both race engineers, who he says have “no chemistry” with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
F1’s return after the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix did not bring about a change in fortunes for Ferrari’s star driver pairing. In fact, it was an afternoon to forget.
Hamilton crashed out on lap 23 after miscalculating a slippery section of the banked turn-three. Then, 30 laps later, Charles Leclerc was also forced to retire after being hit by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli at the same section of the circuit.
The double DNF represents another low point for Ferrari in a winless season so far, while £50m-a-year signing Hamilton is yet to register a podium in 15 grands prix this season. To add insult to injury, Hamilton was then given a five-place grid penalty for the next race for not slowing down for yellow flags prior to the race in Zandvoort.
And the outspoken Villeneuve believes it is time Hamilton and Leclerc cut ties with race engineers Riccardo Adami and Bryan Bozzi respectively.
“Change the two engineers,” Villeneuve said, on Sky Sports F1’s broadcast.
“Find engineers who actually gel with the drivers and give them the freedom to work with the drivers. Simple.”
Hamilton’s relationship with Adami – previously the race engineer for Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel – has been blighted by communication breakdowns this season. Leclerc, similarly, has been irked by Bozzi over team radio in recent races.
Elaborating further on Hamilton’s time at Ferrari so far, Villeneuve added: “He doesn’t feel the team is behind him. The team doesn’t feel Lewis is with them.
“It’s not gelling, and you can hear it when he’s communicating with his engineer [Adami] on race day. There’s no chemistry, not at all. It’s as if they’re on a different planet. They don’t communicate with each other.
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“But the same is true with [Charles] Leclerc and his engineer. There’s something really odd happening with that team that is not progressing in the right direction.
“And when you hear Lewis’ interviews, he doesn’t seem excited. He doesn’t seem to believe what he says. It’s as if he doesn’t want to go to work. It’s really, really strange.
“Now, 2026 is coming. He knows that will be a new season. This year is done. He’s focusing on 2026, but for that, you need to make sure that it will be your car, it will be your team.”
Ferrari’s traditional home race, the Italian Grand Prix, is next up this weekend, as Hamilton (with that five-place grid penalty) and Leclerc look to bounce back at Monza.
